Why I dont think we need an RB

Im not gonna say that its because Walker is the answer..im not too sure about that. And im not gonna say its because Dayne rocks..cause he only rocks for the last 4 games of the season...at least that has been the story for the last couple years.

But when you are in a division where the other 3 teams are in the playoffs..you have to look at your team a bit differently.

What I mean is.. we need to worry a little bit less about being a "complete team" and worry a bit more about being a team that can beat our divisional rivals. It is apparent that they are our greatest competition for a playoff spot.. and our record against division rivals this season shows that we are not able to beat them at this point.

So, looking at our team, and their teams, I have come to the conclusion that the running game should not be our biggest priority. Why? Because the defensive line of the Titans and Jaguars are too good for us to be wasting time trying to headbutt them in to submission. We have already shown that we are able to pass on them despite their great defenses, I dont think we should devote too much of our energy (and money) to getting new running backs.

Instead, we need to look at the big picture. Specifically..we need to be aware that the Jags and Titans both have incredible defensive lines.... defensive lines that are good at rushing the passer. If we are going to pass on these teams (and we certainly have the talent to do so) then we need an offensive line good enough to LET US pass on these teams when they are coming at us with their all-star Dline.

I honestly think that if we devoted a great deal of our effort and funds into the Oline.. and made a significant improvement to it.. we would be able to dominate the Titans and Jaguars next season. Because if you take away their defensive lines..they are mediocre teams.

Actually I take that back, the Titans are a mediocre team at that point, the Jaguars still have a great running attack. Which leads to my next biggest priority..the Dline and Linebackers.

The Dline? Thats right.. we need to further improve the Dline. When you look at our 3 division rivals.. you have 3 very different offensive philosophies. The Colts run a pass oriented offense that moves the ball fast.. the Jags pound the ball..and the Titans bumble around like idiots and praise VY for his pop warner skills...but they still get wins.

We need a top 5 pass rush to stop Manning, and stout run defense to stop Jacksonville.. and those two things together will bury to Titan offense.

So where does that put our priorities this offseason?

1) Oline. Id say specifically we need to address LT and Center. But any upgrades at ANY position is a good thing. We need more EVERYTHING on the line. Id like to see us with a top 10 oline next year. THIS IS THE YEAR TO FIX THE LINE..lets do it already.

2) I figure we can go one of two ways on defense.. we can either get a dominant pass-rushing DE, and a run stuffing beast of an LB..or we can try to acquire an LB that can do both the rushing, and the run stuffing. Both are pretty tall orders.. but I think we need to accomplish one or the other if we intend to win our division games next year.

So there ya have it.. our greatest needs this offseason..in a nutshell.

I know you are saying to yourself "Your an *****..we need a cornerback! We need safeties! We need a running back!" etc..etc..etc.. Yah we could definitely use help at those spots as well..especially cornerback...but thats what I was talking about at the top of this post..... if we are going to make the playoffs in this division, we HAVE to beat our divisional rivals.

The only team in our division that has a really dominant passing attack is the Colts, and a strong pass-rush will be as effective a deterrent against the Peyton Manning show as a strong cornerback would be. But the dominant pass-rush would also help us win games against the Jags and Titans.. while the cornerback, while nice to have, is not really as necessary against the weak receiving corps that they have.

See what im saying? If we can get an upgrade at CB, S, or RB..and the price is right, then im all for it.. but when it comes down to it, we need to be putting the bulk of our money, picks, and effort into the Oline, Dline, and LBs. That is what is gonna get us in to the playoffs the quickest.

We'll I've been posting this for five years welcome aboard. If someone would have given me odds that Salaam would make it 26 straight games, I would of taken the bet. Truely a remarkable feat. Inside the game, RS agrees with us. He said it. I heard him...We'll see. Been a long while since Bosselli stood at the podium and told us he was done. Always seems something else comes up every off season.

The other side of the arguement is that as long as Manning is on top of his game, he is going to be a tough out. He gets the ball out of his hands with in 2.5 seconds, I don't care who you have lined in front of the guy, getting to Manning with that kind of efficiency is damn near impossible. So either you get to him and rough him up. Or you keep him on the pine and do not make a mistake on your serve. He is perfect. And your team must be close to perfect to beat him.

I have to agree, I don't think RB is our issue, I think we have it right there with Walker, maybe a late round draft pick to the RB position can work to our favor.

A good oline can make walker look good. On top of that, a good oline can protect our QB in the pocket give him time to execute the passing pay. Ten and Jack both have good pass rushing Dlines, and also, Indy is solid with their pass rushers when freeny is on the field.

A good Dline can give us the pass rush we need in order to help our secondary. Denver is a good example of what happens to a team with no pass rush that does have a good secondary. Denver Secondary hasn't done squat. Pass rush is key to cause take aways. In this division, presser on Manning, Young, and Garrad will be need to slow these teams.

the cut back on the long run yesterday was a thing of beauty and one we haven't seen enough of.

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Just goes to show you what a back with mediorce quickness & speed can do
in our offense.
I'm really a big Chris Taylor fan, as he's probably a little quicker than Walker and yet also has excellent size and strength. I'm hoping he's making a real effort to rehab in the offseason after his knee injury back in the past TC
and will be ready to go in '08.

I agree that OL is our first priority. But RB is up there right after safety/CB help. Yeah we need to structure the team to beat our division opponents but we've gotta keep the defense off the field too. LT is our biggest issue and then the defensive backfield. Did you see what happened to us yesterday? That masked man that put up 285 was GRAY!!!. Manning put up 300+ last week. Gray did most of his damage against our starters. And that's without MJD and Taylor out there ripping up the turf. It wasn't all because we were 3 scores ahead either. That's been the way things are for well, since it was Glenn and Coleman in the backfield.

We go BPA at RB, LT or CB at #18 in my opinion. I am not a big fan of RB's in the 1st, but it is a glaring need. Darius Walker has earned an opportunity to compete for the starting role next year, but seriously doubt he would take it from anyone next year.

Grid, I second your thoughts. Until we get a stud o-line it doesn't matter who your running backs are. They need to beef up the LT & C in the draft first. Then see who they can pick up (w/out over paying) in FA. How long can you rely on an aging McKinney and an average of Salam.

If you look at the season at the times our coach was out coached, we are 2 games out from a Wild Card spot, which makes some of our losses that much more heartbreaking. The offseason should be interesting.

I have seen the "we don't need a RB" sentiment starting to float around recently. Yes, actually, the Texans do. With cast of characters (including a healthy Ahman Green), the Texans are nearly guaranteed to have the worst collection of RBs in the division. I am not sure that Dayne/Walker would even make the roster of any of our division foes. Greg Jones, the guy playing fullback for the Jags, is probably more talented as running back than anyone the Texans have.

As for the OL, some of you are actually underrating the performance. I can't believe i just type that, but it is true. This is not the unit that regularly was dominated a couple of years back. Do the Texans need a long term answer at LT? Yes. Do we need to figure the center position past Steve McKinney? sure. Just saying, things aren't as bad up there as is often painted.

Also, the "we don't need a RB" approach is too much either/or reasoning for my tastes. The point of the off-season is to improve you team, the entire team. Truth is I would be very disappointed, if the Texans did not address, both the RB and OL positions in some manner.

From what I've red so far, the draft is heavy on T & RB and lite on S. I'd like to see us go BPA at LT or CB in the first round. Then add RB in the third round. Like KT, I am not a big fan of RB's in the 1st.

Frankly, looking at FA, there just aren't any decent LT coming on the market next year. But I like some of the CBs.

I have seen the "we don't need a RB" sentiment starting to float around recently. Yes, actually, the Texans do. With cast of characters (including a healthy Ahman Green), the Texans are nearly guaranteed to have the worst collection of RBs in the division. I am not sure that Dayne/Walker would even make the roster of any of our division foes. Greg Jones, the guy playing fullback for the Jags, is probably more talented as running back than anyone the Texans have.

As for the OL, some of you are actually underrating the performance. I can't believe i just type that, but it is true. This is not the unit that regularly was dominated a couple of years back. Do the Texans need a long term answer at LT? Yes. Do we need to figure the center position past Steve McKinney? sure. Just saying, things aren't as bad up there as is often painted.

Also, the "we don't need a RB" approach is too much either/or reasoning for my tastes. The point of the off-season is to improve you team, the entire team. Truth is I would be very disappointed, if the Texans did not address, both the RB and OL positions in some manner.

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I agree.

Dayne has done a wonderful job for us,but on an NFL scale he is average at best. Dayne is serviceable and will be with the team next season, but if we have a chance to upgrade, we need to

With cast of characters (including a healthy Ahman Green), the Texans are nearly guaranteed to have the worst collection of RBs in the division. I am not sure that Dayne/Walker would even make the roster of any of our division foes.

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I think what we have now with Chris Taylor, Dayne, & if Green is semi-servicible, talent very comparable to the Titans at RB, but of course thats not saying that much.
But dang, Taylor & Maurice D-J give the Jags the best 1-2 in the league IMO,
and the Colts have a PBowler. So like everything else in this division tough, tough competition in the backfields.

We should add a RB in the draft, although not in the first round. In the first round we should take a cornerback or an offensive lineman. We should add at least one notable RB through free agency, and probably a couple of more less notable RB's. For the record, I would have classified the Darius Walker signing as a "less notable" free agent RB. If we do all of this, we go into camp with:

This will give us what we need for 2008. If everything else basically works out well, hopefully we are in a position to put the icing on the cake and take a RB with our #1 draft pick in April 2009, after next season.

It's always a series of steps and nothing takes place in a vacuum. First comes trying to lock down our own free agents we wish to keep, then comes trying to sign other teams free agents. I expect we'll address at least two pressing needs in free agency but I have no idea which needs those will be. I'm sure it depends on who is available (which is nice because it used to depend only on things like "who was willing to come here" and "who we could afford with out tiny amount of bank").

Walker, Taylor, and Dayne all seem to be "servicable" and I think each one of them belongs in the NFL. There's a place for them at this level but on the grand scale of running backs we have to acknowledge that there are a couple of levels above each of them. These guys are like "Tier 3" running backs and we can do better than that somewhere in between the 1st and 4th rounds. We can probably do better than that in free agency as well but unless Smith & Kubiak are just absolutely positive about somebody out there I'd prefer we draft one.

can you imagine if the Texans really had a RB just how much better the Texans offense would be? both the line & QB play would upgrade performance. What you can't do is negate any position & bypass bpa when it can improve your team. Longterm success is predicated on outcoaching your opponnents & out scouting other NFL teams to secure the best possible player in the draft when you pick. if that pick just so happens to be a RB then so be it.

of course we're all hoping for a franchise LT, only one time under Casserlys rule have the Texans passed on a legitimate, known bpa OT in the draft & that was 05 (#13 N.O. Jammal Brown). Jordon Gross is a UFA he was drafted by the Panthers in 03 @ #8 (Texans #3 Andre Johnson) this would be an excellent time to pick your spot (Rick Smith) as oppossed to trading up with draft picks like the 49'ers did for Staley costing them this years #7 overall pick.

so what if Rick signs a tackle in FA? that gives him alot of options to possibly trade down & add some quality picks which translate into players who can fill needs. one of which is RB. the only way to get ahead of the competition is to beat them in every facet of the game which includes off field aquistions as well.

Put me in the camp of going with best available OT or DB in the first round. Not having a second here really hurts. Quality RBs are available later in the draft. You just need an eye for talent and a little luck to pluck them out. It doesn't work quite as well with DB's and with OT after the first and second rounds.

Our defensive backfield was a MASH unit and we needed an upgrade in talent at S before the season even started.

The O-line seems to be the bane of this organization's existence. We got passable play this year, but a FA signing and a first round draft pick devoted to the OL might do wonders for the consistency of both our running game as well as our passing game.

This sentiment reminds me of the one earlier in the season when our offense did well for a few games without AJ and people said, "AJ doesn't make that big a difference when we have Davis and Walters emerging." Then AJ came back and our offense was 10 times better. People THINK we don't need a RB because they have never seen us with one and think and 8-8 type team with guys who are "serviceable" are all we need. the problem is that we don't know how much rest our offense would get or whatever if you had a game breaker. I think O-line and RB are the key. The original post said you can't butt heads with the rivals..why not?The NFC East has been playing that kind of rivalry stuff for decades by knocking heads. Its how you put away games and at the same time get easy points. What we have now is a group of backups. I don't care what round it comes in but we need a RB. I'm not saying you can always get a Terrell Davis in the 6th round but if you scout well we need a guy who can change games and people are fooling themselves if they don't think we do. Again, you don't know what you don't have unless you see it first. We have never seen a true #1 so why say it isn't a need because we can get by. We saw the difference with AJ. If through FA and the draft we hit CB, OL and RB, I'll be all good.

I expect that we will upgrade the CB spot in FA (Probably not Samuals - Big $ for him) and take a OLT with the first pick and then a RB with the 3rd and a safety with the 4th (might switch those around depending on whose there). Get that done in the off season and I'm a happy camper.

I would like to see the Texans sign a starting calibur LB. Specificly Lance Briggs. After that, we need to look at our money wisely. If Sanders hits the open market, I'm taking that chance on him. He probably won't, so we can just play like he won't for now. Samuels will demand and get too much money. The Oakland CB is my target initially.

Running back is a tricky position to grade out for our team. I honestly would only add a homerun threat/speed back to the group. Someone with 4.3 speed who can get a few carries a game. I'm assuming we will transition more towards the typical Denver ZBS with Sherman's departure, meaning that we will be able to see more cutting like Walker showed. The lanes are there in the correct scheme, and speed will exploit them in a heartbeat.

ArlingtonTexan said:

As for the OL, some of you are actually underrating the performance. I can't believe i just type that, but it is true. This is not the unit that regularly was dominated a couple of years back. Do the Texans need a long term answer at LT? Yes. Do we need to figure the center position past Steve McKinney? sure. Just saying, things aren't as bad up there as is often painted.

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The performance hasn't been great honestly. I haven't watched all of the games due to being out of broadcast areas, but I've watched the ones I can. Decreasing the number of sacks is a positive, but not always indicitive of performance. Reducing sacks can be attributed to quicker routes, shorter drops, quick releases, a QB with cajones, a RB/FB picking up a rusher last second. What I'm saying is that reducing sacks isn't the end all to imporvement. The O-Line was getting pushed back repeatedly yesterday against Jacksonville's backups. Our starters were losing the battle at the POA to second stringers. We allowed penatration straight through the A and B gaps to the DT's. I really do feel that we need an upgrade at C first and foremost on the line.